Please join us on May 24 for a special visiting speaker.
Dr. Kenneth Craig is hosting Dr. Rebecca Pillai Riddell, C.Psych (PhD UBC), who will present her talk ‘Integrating Attachment Theory into Pediatric Primary Care’. The full abstract is below.
Rebecca Riddell (Photo: YorkU)
Bio
Dr. Rebecca Pillai Riddell, York Research Chair in Pain and Mental Health, is Director of the O.U.C.H. [Opportunities to Understand Childhood Hurt] Lab, Associate Professor at York University, Scientific Staff with the Hospital for Sick Children, and Adjunct Associate Professor with University of Toronto. Her research involves linking early immunization behaviour to both health and mental health outcomes. Dr. Pillai Riddell’s interest in the caregiver-child relationship began as an undergraduate student at York and has continued through her graduate research training career at UBC and Hospital for Sick Children. She currently directs two primary lines of research and participates in the leadership of other programs with colleagues from across the country.
Abstract
Attachment theory is arguably one of the most influential theories in child development. Building a secure attachment is one of the most important milestones of early childhood. Child development scientists know that observing infants and caregivers during distressing events are highly predictive of future infant and caregiver behaviour. Child development clinicians know that caregiver soothing and scaffolding of distress-regulation is critical to long term mental health outcomes. Yet, despite the importance of learning emotional regulation and its dependence on early caregiving, little work has been done to help integrate this into pediatric primary care settings.
John Bowlby’s seminal work suggests that attachment behaviour is activated when an infant experiences pain. Based on this premise, we suggest that screening of caregiver support for infant distress regulation can be feasibly conducted during routine vaccination. Through detailed analysis of the largest longitudinal study of its kind (n=760), the OUCH Cohort has provided a number of insights on the application of attachment theory to the context of acute pediatric pain. Whether working in the field or in the lab, these findings help broaden our understanding of attachment outside of traditional settings.
